


I See The Light Beneath Your Darkness

by captain_bucky_writesaswell



Series: Missing Scenes S02 QOTS [2]
Category: Queen of the South (TV)
Genre: Angst, Confession, F/M, Secrets, before bolivia, guero's always a problem, protective james valdez
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-28
Updated: 2019-01-28
Packaged: 2019-10-18 12:00:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17580422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captain_bucky_writesaswell/pseuds/captain_bucky_writesaswell
Summary: "James meets her eyes and sighs, shaking his head from side to side gently, like he’s disappointed, as he shuts the door behind him. His demeanour warns Teresa that they’re probably going to end up in some sort of disagreement. And she thinks she knows exactly what over."{Set at the end of 204/before 205}





	I See The Light Beneath Your Darkness

**Author's Note:**

> some jeresa angst(?) and james being protective as per.

Teresa’s sitting on the edge of her bed, a knee tucked up to her chest while she bites at a nail through anxiousness. There’s a million different ways that their new situation could turn out.

Then there’s a knock on her door.

And a patient pause. The corners of her lips tug upwards for a second before she lets him inside.

“It’s open” - she calls from her bed.

A quiet, composed James takes a couple of steps into her room.

She turns her head to look up to him, feeling so much shorter than him from this angle. He's dressed in all black as per usual, with a glimpse of a white vest peeking out from under his dark sweater.

James meets her eyes and sighs, shaking his head from side to side gently, like he’s disappointed, as he shuts the door behind him. His demeanour warns Teresa that they’re probably going to end up in some sort of disagreement. And she thinks she knows exactly what over.

James takes back his previous position in her room. Not too close to her but still comfortably far enough away.

“You knew he was alive.” He suggests bluntly. Typical James, straight to the point. There's no beating around the bush with this one.

She keeps her eyes locked on his. Not saying a word. Yes, she did…but only recently. For all intents and purposes, Güero was dead to her. But James doesn’t need to know that.

James lets out another brief sigh and his head lowers down to her at an angle, that _I know you're keeping something from me_ head tilt of his. His fingers twitch as he rubs them against his thumb by his side.

“Teresa-” he’s more insistent this time, but not harshly or via raising his voice. Just James’ overprotective softness shining right through him.

Something about the way he says her name makes her heart want to trust him. Even though her head tells her that she shouldn’t, _not this time_. Her jaw instinctively unclenches at the thought, and her eyes break away from their stare. Eyelids fluttering a few times as she looks away to the floor in front of her, her hand dropping to cross over her leg.  _Busted_.

James sees this as a silent defeat on her part but tries to get through to her again.

“Teresa, you’re gonna get in some real deep shit with Camila if you lie to her about this.”

She doesn’t acknowledge his statement once more. Opting to clench her jaw at the mention of her name.

James bites on his lip before he tries for a fourth time, moving half a step closer. This time when he speaks, he’s quieter than before.

“Teresa, you understand what will happen to you right?”

Teresa’s breathing gets a little deeper. She understands perfectly. Then she unclenches her jaw - “You’re going to tell her aren’t you?”

Teresa knows there’s a lot of secrets that are being kept just between the two of them, but this feels too big for them both to handle. Somebody ( _i.e. Güero_ ) would slip up and Camila would find out that Teresa had lied point blank to her face.  _She_ will lose her life and _he_ would be the one who would have to kill her. 

“No.” James responded without hesitation, his face stern with assurity. Letting his shoulders drop down. The hint of white under his dark attire peeks through a little more.

Teresa once again looks up to him. Her expression folding into a question.

“Why?”

The tiny crack in her voice doesn’t go unnoticed by James, and the way that her head is slowly shaking side to side. Like she was expecting a different answer from him. Like she was expecting him to betray her.

This time it’s _his_ eyes that break away from their contact. And a short silence falls upon the room.

Then all of a sudden the creases in his forehead disappear and his face relaxes further.

“I don’t want you to get hurt.” He says softly, deeply. So quiet like he doesn't even want to admit it to himself, let alone to her. 

His eyes move slowly back to Teresa's, as he feels his cheeks getting a little warmer than before.

Teresa tries her best to keep her composure. _He cares about me_.

James makes an attempt to divert the conversation away from his feelings and back to the _Teresa lying about la rata to Camila’s face_ situation - “I don’t tell her _everything_. Whatever this is.. we will keep it between us.”

Teresa feels the truth in his voice ringing in her bones. _Trust him_.

“But I can’t do my job, I can't keep you safe if-” His phone ringing in his back pocket interrupts his flow of speech and snaps hip out of his emotions.

Teresa stands and places her hands into the pockets of her zip up hoodie as she watches him take his phone out, checking the screen then bringing it up to his ear.

“Yep...okay...zero-five hundred...okay... thanks.”

Teresa watches tentatively as James looks down at his phone in his hands. She can tell he’s biting back the rest of what his was going to say before his phone rang. Anything to prevent them having a deeper connection than what they should have. Correction: what they _do_ _have_ between them.

After a breath, he lets his tired eyes come back to her. “Get some rest-“ he gestures towards her bed. “Flight’s in six hours, make sure you have everything you need.”

Teresa quietly nods her response, “Okay.” Her already heavy, weary eyes match James’.

He glances up and down over her for one last time. Sometimes he doesn’t even realise he’s doing it. He wants so badly to finish what they were talking about, but now’s just not the time.

Then he retreats away back into himself and walks a little too slowly out of her room. Teresa’s eyes like fire on his back as he leaves.

She _shouldn’t_ trust him.

But she does.

**Author's Note:**

> aw.


End file.
